In known such apparatus, there are an assembling path, in which products to be packed are assembled, a folding station comprising folding means by means of which the longitudinal edges of a continuous packing material web are folded around the products to be packed to form a continuous packing tube with products included therein, and a separating station by means of which the packing tube is divided in transverse direction between the products into loose, packed end products, the folding station comprising a first conveyor belt on which at least a part of the packing material web is located which extends below the products to be packed, a pulling element which is arranged above the first conveyor belt and engages parts of the packing material web located at the top side of the products to be packed, and connecting means by means of which the longitudinal edges of the packing material web are interconnected.
Such apparatus is known from European patent application EP-A-0 519 529.
In the known apparatus, the pulling element, with the interposition of at least the longitudinal edges of the packing material web, presses on the top side of the product to be packed. The product included into the tube of packing material web is thus clamped between the pulling element and the first conveyor belt. Because the pulling element is likewise designed as a conveyor belt whose conveying speed corresponds to the conveying speed of the first conveyor belt, the packing material web is pulled at both at the bottom side and at the top side of the product, whereby, apart from the product transport in the folding station, the energy required for the folding process is also provided. It is true that in the known apparatus, the distance between the pulling element and the conveyor belt is settable, but this distance is changed only occasionally for a series of products to be packed.
Hence, the major drawback of the known apparatus is that the random processing of products having mutually different thicknesses can be effected to a very limited extent only, if at all. However, from the nature of the packing apparatus, it follows that the products to be packed do not all have the same thickness. Indeed, in the product-assembling path, some products have more enclosures added thereto than other products. An enclosure can for instance be formed by a CD box added to a magazine and only intended for specific subscribers.
The object of the invention is to provide a packing apparatus whereby products of different thicknesses can be processed in random order without this requiring a change of the distance of the pulling element relative to the first conveyor belt.